incentivation said:
Paul Keating as your avatar. Says it all really..
As for this notion of a 'lack of Opposition' in NSW, that is an absurd myth perpetuated by the distinct lack of media attention given to state politics and indeed, the state Opposition. If the media had the love affair with O'Farrell that it had with Rudd, he would be virtually unbeatable.
As for the '13 years of shit', please elaborate. I mean, it was by no means a perfect government, no government ever is. However it seems that since the election loss, the media and government alike have worked fairly hard to rewrite the political, social and economic outcomes of last 12 years.
yes, you're right - it does say it all. he saw howard for the true piece of crap that he really was:
He's like a lizard on a rock, alive but looking dead
* A desiccated coconut
* What we have got is a dead carcass, swinging in the breeze, but nobody will cut it down to replace him.
* ...the brain-damaged Leader of the Opposition...
* But I will never get to the stage of wanting to lead the nation standing in front of the mirror each morning clipping the eyebrows here and clipping the eyebrows there with Janette and the kids: It’s like ‘Spot the eyebrows’.
* From this day onwards, Howard will wear his leadership like a crown of thorns, and in the parliament I’ll do everything to crucify him (speaking of his 1986 leadership)
in terms of the 13 years of shit, John Howard did shit-all for this country.
He did nothing for the Aborigines - refused to apologise for the actions of our ancestors or acknowledge their wrong doing
oh, and what about the countless lies
John Howard Lie #2
"Medicare will be retained in its entirety."
John Howard, February 1996
The Truth:
The Howard Government abolished the dental plan and bulk billing rates have declined by more than 12 percentage points since the Coalition took office in 1996.
John Howard Lie #3
During the 2001 Federal election campaign John Howard promised that his Government's policies would "lead to reduced premiums" for health insurance.
"Heading in the Right Direction", p151
The Truth:
Since the election in 2001, the Government has approved increases in premiums totalling 21 per cent.
Education
John Howard Lie #4
"I can guarantee we're not going to have $100,000 university degree courses."
John Howard, interview with Neil Mitchell on
Radio 3AW,
15 October 1999
The Truth:
16 different degrees now cost at least $100,000.
John Howard Lie #5
"We have no intention of introducing a loans scheme with a real or indeed any other rate of interest."
John Howard, in Parliament,
18 October 1999
The Truth:
"Debts accrued under FEE-HELP will be indexed to the consumer price index . . . A loan fee of 20 per cent will apply to FEE-HELP loans for undergraduate courses of study only."
Higher Education Loan Programme, Department of Education, Science and Training Update,
March 2004
John Howard Lie #6
"Well, it means that we'll not have deregulated fees. In other words, the Government will always maintain a control over what the level of the fee is." John Howard, interview on
Radio 3AW,
15 October 1999
The Truth:
"We do need more money in our universities . . . and some of it should come outside the budget through a managed and sensible deregulation of the system." John Howard in Parliament,
16 September 2003
The GST, Other Taxes and Red Tape
John Howard Lie #7
John Howard: "No, there's no way that a GSTwill ever be part of our policy."
Journalist: "Never ever?"
John Howard: "Never ever. It's dead. It was killed by the voters in the last election".
John Howard, interview, Tweed Heads Civic Centre,
2 May 1995
The Truth:
"The bills before the House will enact a broad based goods and services tax that will be levied at 10 per cent and will start in July 2000."
Peter Costello, Treasurer,
A New Tax System (Goods and Services Tax Bill), Second Reading Speech,
2 December 1998
John Howard Lie #8
"The GST will not increase the price of petrol for the ordinary motorist . . ."
John Howard,
Address to the Nation on the Tax Plan,
13 August 1998
The Truth:
The price of automotive fuel rose 10.4 per cent in the September quarter following the introduction of the GSTon 1 July 2000, and was 23.6 per cent higher than at the same time the previous year.
Australian Bureau of Statistics, ABS@,
Time Series Spreadsheets, Consumer Price Index 6401.0
John Howard Lie #9
"There'll be no more than a 1.9% rise in ordinary beer."
John Howard,
John Laws Program,
23 September 1998
The Truth:
The price of beer rose 4.8 per cent in the September quarter following the introduction of the GSTon 1 July 2000, and was 8.5 per cent higher than the same time the previous year.
Australian Bureau of Statistics, ABS@,
Time Series Spreadsheets, Consumer Price Index 6401.0
John Howard Lie #10
Journalist: "Will the number of pages in the Tax Act be reduced by the introduction of a GST? "
Prime Minister: "Yes it will".
John Howard, interview Alan Jones
Radio 2UE,
14 August 1998
The Truth:
". . . the Tax Act has grown from 3,000 to over 9,000 pages and an additional 2.5 million words have been inserted into the Tax Act, since 1 July 2000. Apart from these overwhelming changes foisted onto small businesses, we now have over 2 million businesses registered under the GST, compared to less than 17,000 under the former sales tax regime."
National Tax & Accountants' Association,
15 August 2002
John Howard Lie #11
Kerry O'Brien: "Okay. the pledge of no new taxes, no increase in existing taxes for the life of the next parliament. So for the next three years, not even a one cent increase on cigarettes or beer or wine or petrol, no other indirect tax increase, no tax increase of any kind?" John Howard: "That promise is quite explicit".
John Howard, ABC
7:30 Report,
1 February 1996
The Truth:
By 30 September 2002, John Howard's Government had introduced legislation for 130 new taxes or tax increases during its terms of office.
"Bills which imposed a new tax or increased an existing tax introduced during the 38th to 40th Parliaments", Clerk of the Senate,
30 October 2002
Meetings with the Ethanol Industry
John Howard Lie #12
Labor MP question to the Prime Minister: "Prime Minister, was the government contacted by the major Australian producer of ethanol or by any representative of his company or the Industry Association before its decision to impose fuel excise on ethanol?"
John Howard: "Speaking for myself, I did not personally have any discussions, from recollection, with any of them."
John Howard, Question Time,
17 September 2002
The Truth:
John Howard had met on 1 August the head of Manildra Group [Dick Honan], which makes 87 per cent of our ethanol, and they discussed how to help the Australian ethanol industry.
Department of Prime Minister and Cabinet, Official Record of Meeting,
1 August 2002
Aged Care and the Pension Clawback
John Howard Lie #13
Interviewer: "Well, if the Budget's in such good shape why persist with things like the pension claw back . . ."
John Howard: "No, no . . . because Glenn there is no clawback. And what happened with those things is that they were paid in advance and we're not taking them back, we're just avoiding paying them twice . . ."
John Howard, interview with Glenn Milne,
Sunday Sunrise, 4
March 2001
John Howard Lie #14
"There has been no clawback, there has been no deduction and there has been no deceit".
John Howard, Parliament,
5 March 2001
The Truth:
"The indexation adjustments to pensions and adult allowance rates for 20 March 2001 will have the additional issue of clawback . . . Two per cent of the existing rate will be deducted from the normal CPI adjustment . . ."
Department of Family and Community Services,
internal briefing paper, quoted in Parliament,
5 March 2001
The Current Account Deficit
John Howard Lie #15
"I can promise you that we will follow policies which will, over a period of time, bring down the foreign debt . . . our first priority in Government economically will be to tackle the current account deficit."
John Howard, Doorstop interview, Debt Truck Launch,
20 September 1995
The Truth:
Foreign debt was $361 billion at the end of September 2003, an increase of 90 per cent on the September 1995 level. The current account deficit was $11.9 billion at the end of September 2003, an increase of 112.5 per cent on the September 1995 level.
Australian Bureau of Statistics, ABS@,
Time Series Spreadsheets (Balance of Payments and Investment Position, Australia 5302.0, Reserve Bank of Australia (H) Bulletin, Current Account)
Labour Market Programs
John Howard Lie #16
"Well, we're certainly going to maintain the existing level of funding for labour market programs".
John Howard, Address to Youth, Macgregor,
20 February 1996
The Truth:
Kerry O'Brien: "Okay. But on 20 February, you said very clearly 'We are certainly going to maintain the existing level of funding for labour market programs'. Now, for all the people on those labour market programs, I would suggest it to them that would have been a pretty core promise and you've broken it."
John Howard: "Well, it is true that we are not spending as much money on labour market programs".
John Howard, interview on ABC
7:30 Report,
21 August 1996
Services for the Bush
John Howard Lie #17
"I don't want to see any further services, government service levels withdrawn from or taken away from the bush . . . I gave instructions for that this morning when I spoke to my office in Canberra, that in any future Government decisions that, in effect, a red light flashes if that Government decision involves a reduction in the delivery of an existing Commonwealth service."
John Howard, Nyngan Community Luncheon,
31 January 2000
The Truth:
The Howard Government reduced the number of Job Network sites by 42 per cent, from 1710 to 986, and the number of outreach services by 65 per cent, from 404 to 140."
Department of Employment and Workplace Relations,
Employment Services Contract 2003-2006, Aggregate Analysis,
March 2003
Job Network Conditional Offers,
Aggregate Analysis,
December 1999
Children Overboard
John Howard Lie #18
"The Government's position remains that we were advised by Defence that children were thrown overboard, we made those allegations on the basis of that advice, and until I get Defence advice to the contrary I will maintain that position".
John Howard,
Sunrise, Channel 7,
9 November 2001
The Truth:
"I left him in no doubt that there was no evidence, that there were no children thrown overboard."
Mike Scrafton, ABC
7:30 Report,
16 August 2004
And along with all of this, Howard was given a great opportunity to to something with the 13 years of economic boom he was handed on a plate..what did he do? Nothing! At least Keating and Whitlam seized their time in power, putting forward what seemed at the time to be radical policies, but turned out to be the best thing that could have happened to this country